How to keep your New Year's fitness resolution from failing

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Photos:Gifts for a healthier, happier new year

Get moving: Fitness trackers – Why just brag that you went to the gym for 30 minutes when you can rattle off the number of calories you burned, steps taken or stairs climbed? A fitness tracker, with its heart rate monitor, accelerometer and other sensors, gives your giftee the power to closely monitor their activity levels and set new personal bests. The Fitbit Charge HR and Jawbone UP2, pictured, have drawn praise for accuracy and simplicity, and will set you back $149.95 and $99.99, respectively.

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Photos:Gifts for a healthier, happier new year

Stay fit: Subscription services – You can help that special someone stick to their New Year's resolution to stay fit by having a care package of healthy snacks and other motivating goodies shipped to them every month. Options and prices abound, but one popular subscription box service is StrideBox, geared to runners and other athletes. A three or six-month gift subscription costs $50 or $90. My Subscription Addiction has plenty of other ideas for those resolving to lose weight or eat healthy.

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Photos:Gifts for a healthier, happier new year

Work out regularly: Home gym – It is easier to get pumped up for a workout when you have a shiny new home gym. Bowflex is a popular home gym. Prices start around $350 for the classic PR100 Home Gym, which gives users about 30 upper and lower body exercises. For Santas with deeper pockets, there is the Revolution Home Gym for $2,500, which offers 90 exercises and has newer resistance technology that makes for easier use.

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Photos:Gifts for a healthier, happier new year

Eat healthier: Blend up a snack – Those big plans to eat healthier in the new year can fall away as the pace of life picks up. With this nifty gadget, the Oster Blend-N-Go My Blend Blender, the object of your gifting affection can blend a healthy shake or smoothie in a BPA-free sports bottle that doubles as a to-go cup. The four-part appliance goes for about $25.

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Read more: E-book reader – An e-book reader may help motivate that special someone who vows to read more in the new year, especially if they also want to travel more (both are popular resolutions). An 8-ounce device can hold an impressive library of hundreds to thousands of books. There's Amazon's high-end Kindle Voyage, pictured, for about $200 or the more affordable classic Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight, for $50 and $100 respectively.

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Reduce stress: Coloring books – That New Year's resolution to stress less can be so much easier said than done, but coloring -- yes, the kind with crayons and coloring books -- might facilitate relaxation. Offer your stress-stricken loved one a coloring book for adults, which range from around $7 to $13, or order a monthly subscription to Doodl.club, which will get them books with wacky designs by artists such as Jim Stoten, for $7 a month.

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Sleep better: Smart lightbulbs – Many of us resolve to enjoy life more in the new year, and for many of us that starts with a better night's sleep. The Good Night Biological LED Lamp bulb by Lighting Science sells for $39.95. It filters out blue light, which can disrupt sleep and throw off your biological clock. Plug the bulb in your bedside lamp for a more calming nighttime environment -- and for even better ambiance, turn off blue-light emitting TVs and smartphone, too.

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Spend time with family: Great games – If your family has resolved to spend more time together -- or you have resolved that for them! -- family game night can be just the ticket. Spice things up with twists on old favorites. Run Wild, $10, is a riff on the card game Uno! Telestrations, $20 to $40, is a creative take on Pictionary, and Word on the Street, $30, is a team-based game similar to Scrabble.

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Celebrate more: Wine – Those resolutions to stay in better touch with friends in the new year can quickly be forgot, just like old acquaintances. A great bottle of wine can be just the excuse needed for a get-together. Through Club W, you can gift that special someone three bottles of wine of their choosing for a total of $50 -- just hope that they don't pick some that are so good they don't want to share!

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Quit smoking: Tools to help – Perhaps the hardest resolution of all is to quit smoking. You can support your loved one through the gift of a membership to the American Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking Online, which gives them access to tools for making a quit plan and an online community of fellow quitters. Membership costs $15 for three months, or $40 for a year, and they can be started at any time.

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Get organized: A guide to tidying – If your giftee is really serious about their resolution to get organized, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up," the best-selling book by decluttering wiz Marie Kondo, will lead them through it. It prescribes strategies for clearing all the unnecessary items out of your home once and for all. At about $10 a book, that is gift money well spent!

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Story highlights

Less than half of all New Year's resolutions were successful six months out

Social interaction has been shown to increase fitness compliance

If pain changes the way you move, get it checked out

(CNN)If you're like most Americans, you've made getting more fit and losing weight your New Year's resolution to kick off 2017. Unfortunately, your resolution will most likely fail.

According to a study from the Statistic Brain Research Institute, roughly 42% of Americans made New Year's resolutions for 2017. The most common resolution -- made by almost a quarter of every person making one -- involves increasing fitness and activity. As people look down at their waistlines after the holiday season, there is a strong desire to get active.

This why the treadmills at your gym are packed this month. But if you're annoyed at having to wait your turn, just be patient; most of them will give up in the coming months.

The study found that of those who made resolutions, 37% of people in their 20s and 16% of those over 50 were successful, meaning they met their objectives. Combined, fewer than half of all New Year's resolutions were successful six months out.

But you don't need to be one of the quitters. As a sports medicine physician and fitness class instructor, I have found clear strategies for success in maintaining fitness goals all year.

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Make it social

Humans are social animals. The more we interact with others, the more likely we are to modify behavior.

Social interaction has been shown to make people more likely to work out. Join a group, such as signing up for a fitness class, joining a local running or walking club, or even hiring a personal trainer.

Commit to a date-specific goal

Goals don't need to be lofty to be effective. But it's useful to sign up for an event: a 5K walk, a 10K race, a marathon, a triathlon or even a ballroom dance competition.

When you set a goal, preferably one just slightly outside your comfort zone, you're much more likely to stick with your fitness program. Pick your goal, register for the event and put it on your calendar so you know where you're headed.

Keep smiling

Fun increaseshelps people stick with a workout program. A small study published in Germany last year showed that when people were having fun, they were much more likely to stick with their exercise regimen.

I have found this to be true in my fitness classes as well. Even if the workouts are difficult -- when it's 25 degrees outside at 6 a.m. -- people show up. As they have reported, the primary reasons are fun and community. Make sure your exercise program is making you smile. If it's not, try another approach.

Recognize aches and pains

If working out doesn't make you slightly uncomfortable, you're probably not doing it hard enough. Effective exercise is all about pushing your limits.

But when the aches and pains of starting a new fitness regimen pop up, it's important to pay attention. Many well-intentioned fitness programs have been derailed by ignoring the discomforts that can turn into more serious injury.

Differentiating between common problems and unhealthy discomfort is important to prevent that mild ache in your shin from turning into a stress fracture.

My basic rule: If pain changes the way you move, get it checked out. If the ache in your shoulder changes the way you swim, if the ache in your knee changes the way you walk, if the ache in your back changes the way you swing your golf club, go to the doctor.

When an ache or pain persists for more than a few days, causes swelling in a joint or limits how you're moving, get it checked out so you can make a plan that allows you to stick with your fitness program while fixing the problem.

In today's world of sports medicine, we're getting increasingly better at assessing aches and pains through the use of technologies such as X-ray, MRI and ultrasound, and we can figure out ways to prevent these problems from slowing you down. In addition to making muscles stronger and more flexible, experts are able to use newer technologies to figure out the most effective ways to move.

Most of all, just keep moving

Most of my patients don't win an Olympic medal. Most don't end up in the NFL, in the NBA or on the podium of the Boston Marathon. Only a few of my patients will win their age group at a local race.

Regardless of where they finish or what they do, each of my thousands of patients who keep moving and striving to meet their goals is a winner.

What keeps these people pushing ahead? Determination. It doesn't matter if you're first, last or anywhere in between. The final and most important key to making your New Year's resolution work in 2017 is 100% mental.

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Keep moving, day after day, step after step. Move when it's cold; move when you're tired; move when you don't want to keep going or even get off the couch. The toughest part of any exercise program is getting out the door. Once you get started, it's almost impossible to stop.

Happy 2017. Here's to your health, fitness and success.

Dr. Jordan D. Metzl is a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and the author of five books including "The Workout Prescription." He has completed 34 marathons and 14 Ironman triathalons.